


Jacob just wants a hug

by JackdawScoundrel



Series: Small Assassin's Creed Stories [2]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Light Angst, evie is being a good sister and helping him, happy and sad at the same time, jacob frye needs a hug, jacob has been having a bad time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28371807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackdawScoundrel/pseuds/JackdawScoundrel
Summary: Jacob hasn't been doing so well but after a lot of shit went down (it's not posted anywhere, maybe someday) he eventually lets Evie help him start to get better so this is kinda the start of that and they're just being kind to each other because the world needs kindness.
Relationships: Evie Frye & Jacob Frye
Series: Small Assassin's Creed Stories [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027309
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	Jacob just wants a hug

Jacob's existing worries had been compounded by regrets about pretty much everything he'd said the day before. Snippets of conversation kept flitting across his mind, making him flinch as he mentally kicked himself for being stupid enough to open up, but while he'd usually isolate himself and reinforce his own negativity, this time he had Evie and Henry, and it really had made a world of difference.  
They'd noticed the way he'd wince or pull a face for no obvious reason, and when either of them caught it happening would tease an explanation out of him, not accepting 'I'm fine, it's nothing' for an answer. It made Jacob horribly uncomfortable at first, but gradually hurt less as he realised the benefits of being able to pass his thoughts through them. They'd come back less painful, with a little of Henry and Evie's sympathy and a little less of his own spite.  
Another good thing that had come from him finally letting them in was that Evie no longer got frustrated at him for shutting her out, that was the most noticeable change. It felt good to be understood. Encouraged. Cared about. It still felt unfamiliar, but it felt good.

While the feeling of progress and the help of his family (because Henry counted as family now, he'd decided, never mind that him and Evie weren't married yet) had really taken a significant amount of weight off his shoulders, Jacob still struggled to avoid falling into one of his all-too-familiar negative spirals when left for too long without something to occupy his mind.

On one such occasion he was still awake at gone midnight, eyes too strained to focus on the book he'd been trying to read, but his head like Piccadilly Circus; thoughts jostling about in too many directions for him to grasp even one of them. It was that destructive combination of physical tiredness and an inability to shut off his brain.  
This time however, Jacob wasn't going to let anything happen. While he still felt guilty about bothering people (no matter how many times they'd told him it was ok), he knew the shame and regret that would come if he let himself fall for his own tricks again would be far worse, so he pushed off the bedsheets, shook his messy hair out of his face, and padded over to the door.  
The floorboards creaked beneath his feet as he crossed the small landing, the darkness imposing on him from all sides. He'd never been scared of the dark, but not even a blind person could claim that there wasn't a certain eerie quality to the way it made everything seem so much more mysterious.  
He reached out and turned the handle of Evie and Henry's room, opening the door as little as possible while still allowing himself enough space to slip through it. Conveniently, Evie lay on the side of the bed nearest to the door, and Jacob took a silent breath in as he made to reach out and gently wake her up, but he hesitated, his hand only inches from her shoulder as it rose and fell with her breathing.

Was it really worth bothering her with this? What right did he have to wake her up in the middle of the night?

He withdrew his hand and stood immobile, suddenly overwhelmed by the instinct to retreat back to his room and keep his problems to himself. He knew that Evie had said she'd rather he woke her up if he felt like this, but surely she'd only told him that to avoid having to waste more time on him if he ended up in a state like last time? No, he decided, he wouldn't wake her. He'd go back to his room and man up. As long as he didn't do anything this time then it was fine.  
Treading carefully to make sure he didn't knock into the bedside table, Jacob crept backwards to stand once again in the doorway. He stepped back out onto the landing and slowly pulled the door closed again, but just before he managed it, a voice whispered his name.  
Closing his eyes, he let out a barely audible sigh of defeat, resignation, but also relief. He pushed the door open again and could just make out enough of Evie's face in the darkness to see that she was squinting up at him through half-closed eyes.

"What's up?" She asked, reaching out an arm from under the covers to take his hand, as if she wanted to get a hold on him before he had the chance to leave again.

Jacob shrugged. "Brain won't shut up." he whispered back, avoiding eye contact.

Evie nodded. "D'you know, I had a feeling something was off earlier." She said, getting out of bed carefully so as not to disturb Henry, and following her brother back across the landing to his own room.  
"How come you were leaving again just now?" She asked Jacob as he lit a candle on the desk before joining her where she'd sat down on the bed.

"Changed my mind about waking you up." He said. "You looked comfortable, I didn't want to bother you."

"Ah, Jacob." she sighed. "I'd say it 'til I'm blue in the face if I thought it'd help, but you're not bothering me. Not now, not ever." Jacob remained quiet, the candlelight flickering in his eyes; turning them briefly golden as he stared into the flame. "I can tell you still don't believe me."

Not taking his eyes off the glint of the candle, Jacob responded. "Even if it's true now, there'll come a time when you've had it up to your neck with me, and then you won't mean it anymore but you'll still have to act like you don't mind because you've already said it." He took a breath "I don't want to be a burden."

"I really do mean it, and if that ever changes I promise to let you know, but whether you believe it or not, I care about you. I want to help you." She looked over at him with a sad smile as he finally tore his gaze from the glowing flame, fixing it instead on the ground at his feet.

"I just can't let myself believe it when people say things like that. I can't rely on there always being someone around who can help. To not be able to handle everything on my own feels..." His feet poked at the edge of the rug while he tried to search for a word. "Irresponsible."

"Everyone needs someone sooner or later." Evie said simply. "You just have to get comfortable with the idea that it's ok to ask for help."

Jacob nodded at the floor before bringing his head up to look at his sister. "Thanks." He said quietly, reaching out to hold her hand again. He was really treasuring the new understanding between himself and Evie. It felt like a kick in the teeth to have only rediscovered their closeness at this point in their lives though- Evie would be moving to India at some point in the not-too-distant future, and then he'd be on his own again. It hurt to think about, so most of the time he didn't.

Evie rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb. Jacob wasn't sure if it was a conscious action or not, but it was soothing. "What was keeping you up?" She asked.

"I dunno." Jacob murmured. Evie had come to learn that this usually preceded a more insightful answer if he was given time to think, so she didn't respond, and true to form her brother followed up with more a moment later.  
"I just couldn't get to sleep and my thoughts were going about so noisily that I thought if I couldn't calm it down a bit I might end up doing something stupid again." He said truthfully.

"Well I'm glad you came and got me then, even if you did change your mind." Evie told him.  
What she really wanted to tell him was that she was endlessly proud of him for the fact that he'd even entertained the possibility because it was so far from anything he would've done even just a week ago, but she didn't. She knew it was hard enough for Jacob to admit it, and she didn't want to make a big deal of it in case it put him off doing so again in the future. "Maybe it'll feel less hectic if you talk through whatever's on your mind?" She suggested.

Jacob rubbed his eyes. "I don't exactly know." He admitted. "It all feels so abstract, especially when I'm tired. After thinking for a moment longer he added "I suppose I just don't feel like I know what's going on. Everything seems different at the minute, I'm not used to any of it. Plus, I'm worried I'll run out of things to do now that the Blighters are pretty much dealt with."

"Kind of like you're living in a grey area?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Jacob said with a hint of amusement "Makes as much sense as any other way of putting it."

"I know the feeling."

"You do?"

"Mmhm." Evie affirmed. "When things are changing- when there's enough difference that you can't carry on as usual, but not enough certainty yet to get used to anything new- that's when it feels like you're stuck in that in-between area."

"Huh. I never really figured that out before."

For a while the only sound was that of the wind whistling through the empty streets, accompanied now and then by the shrieking bark of a fox off in the distance. Jacob yawned. "I'm sleepy." He said rather unnecessarily, sticking his bottom lip out slightly in a little pout.

"I can see that." Returned Evie, trying and failing to stifle a yawn herself. "Why don't you try and get some rest?"

Jacob's grip on her hand tightened minutely. "Will you still stay for a bit if I do?" He said hesitantly. "I don't want to be alone again just yet."

"'Course I will."

Jacob climbed back into bed and shuffled down under the covers until just his head was left poking out, then pulled his legs up so he was curled on his side. Evie laughed softly as she sat down again on the side of the bed.

"What?" Jacob asked incredulously.

"You just look so small." She smiled.

"I'm no smaller than you." He retorted.

"I know. But still." She tilted her head and looked at him as one might look at a tiny kitten. "Small."  
She reached out and gently pushed a couple strands of hair from his face. "Your hair's getting long."

"Modelling myself on Greenie." Jacob murmured, eliciting another quiet chuckle from Evie.  
After a moment's pause he spoke again. "Typical that you'll be off to the other side of the world right when I start to realise just how much I'll miss you two." He said wistfully, looking out into the room to avoid his sister's gaze.

Evie was quiet for a moment, touched by what he'd said, and once again proud of him for actually sharing his feelings. "I'll miss you as well." She said, still absent-mindedly tracing her fingers through his hair. "Although-" She faltered, unsure of herself for a second "Henry and I were talking about it, and we think we might put it off a while. There's no reason we shouldn't spend some more time in London- I haven't been here long after all."

Jacob's stomach dropped. Trying to keep his tone neutral, he asked "What changed your mind? I thought you wanted to be off as soon as everything was sorted with all that Piece of Eden stuff?" Inside his head a battle had sprung up. On one side he told himself he wasn't important enough to be part of the reason for her decision, and to ask about it would make him seem self-centred; on the other side he couldn't bear the idea that his inability to look after himself might have something to do with Evie's change of heart.

"Well I did want to when Henry first suggested it. Coming here was just part of a bigger objective for me, but now the city is free of Starrick I can see the benefits of staying a while longer." Evie spoke carefully, noticeably dancing around something in such an obvious way that even Jacob could see it.

"It's not because of me is it?" He asked hesitantly, his guilt audible.

"No!" Evie answered a little too quickly. Jacob gave her a disbelieving look. "Well alright, yes, but not for the reason you probably think."

"What do you think I think?" Jacob questioned. He wanted to hear her side first so he could be sure she wouldn't just build an answer around his own doubts.

"I think you're worried that I feel like I have to stay here and keep an eye on you." She said, fixing him with a knowing look. "I know I've always been the more sensible one of us so I can see where you'd get the idea, but we've both grown up a fair bit in the last few months."

Jacob was still sceptical. "If that's the case, then why is the answer still yes if you don't think you have some sort of... responsibility?"

"Because... well, as horrible as things have been over the last few weeks, I've realised just what I'd be giving up if I left you behind." She admitted. "I already knew I'd miss you of course, but I didn't think you'd care much either way, and since I'd be with Henry there wasn't much else tying me to London."

Jacob was quiet for a minute, his expression thoughtful. He'd never properly considered that Evie might have suffered the same way he did from their previous reluctance to show that they cared about each other. By choosing to accept it as fact without raising the issue, they'd both been hurt in the same way without even realising it.  
"Sorry." He said genuinely. "I didn't think you'd care much either way, that's the reason I was being so... distant."

Evie smiled resignedly. "We're both so stupid." She said with a shake of her head.

"I'm glad you agree." Jacob grinned sleepily.

"Come here, you." said Evie with an affectionate chuckle, leaning over to grab Jacob in an awkwardly-positioned but nonetheless heartfelt hug.

When she let him go, Jacob shuffled under his duvet until he was right against the wall, looking up at his sister with a hopeful expression. "I made you space." He said earnestly "We can have a sleepover like we used to."

She looked at him with amusement, considering the proposition sceptically. "Aren't we a bit big for that these days?"

"You were calling me small not five minutes ago!" Jacob pointed out indignantly. "Go on Evie, please?"

She sighed. "Alright. But I'm not coming under the duvet with your nasty smelly feet all night, I'll only stay if I get the blankets."  
Jacob's smile was one of such genuine happiness that Evie couldn't help but mirror it. Reaching into the chest at the foot of the bed to grab a couple of blankets, she wrapped them around herself and snuggled up next to Jacob on his little bed.  
"No matter how long you might have spent trying to hide it, I've always known you were a softie."

Jacob considered his response for a while before he eventually said "Y'know, I was going to try and think of some sort of comeback, but honestly sometimes I don't mind that. Sometimes I just want a hug."

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if there's bits of this that gave you questions, there's like 30,000 words of story getting up to this that just accidentally happened when I suddenly understood how people can vent through writing, but I'm not trying to get sent to a psych ward so for now the thing as a whole is staying in my OneNote lmao. Might post other little chunks of it like this one but idk. Anyway, hope you liked reading it!


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